Under a Bushel

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To her dying day, Ty Lee never told anyone she was a bender.

Sure, nobody ever asked, but why would they? She'd shown no talent as a young child, and after a certain age asking the question became snide. Her parents hadn't really expected her to bend either; their line produced few firebenders. The possible influence of their family's... problematic... ancestry was not mentioned in polite company. Great-grandmother's bad blood didn't mean they were really colonial half-breeds, but it could make all their lives difficult.

Her eldest sister Zun Yen was the family's prized firebender. Ty Lee was just the silly one; born second-to-last and, until she befriended Azula, easily overlooked by the whole family. But that was okay! She liked herself, which was more than most people she knew growing up could say.

Ty Lee was nine when it happened; a late blooming by any nation's standards. She was running through a new acrobatics routine in her bedroom, heart swelling with the joy of movement, when sparks suddenly flew out from her fingertips.

Shocked, she'd stared at her hands. Ty Lee would've been the first to admit she didn't have a proper firebender's personality. You had to be angry to firebend. Ty Lee had a hard time getting upset even when Azula burned holes in her dresses.

But curiosity enticed her to try a basic kata she'd seen Azula and Zuko do. Scowling like a proper firebender should, she punched forward.

Nothing happened.

After several failures, a thought occurred to Ty Lee. She'd firebent when she was having fun, so why not try that?

She tried to remember the happiness in her breast that came from being the best acrobat she could be, the sheer joy there was in defying gravity. Keeping those feelings in mind, Ty Lee punched forward.

Orange flames burst from her knuckles.

At first she was excited, but then Ty Lee realized a few things.

Her parents would be thrilled, but only because it meant Ty Lee would make a better marriage prospect.

Azula never had anything nice to say about other firebenders at school.

Ty Lee would have to be a soldier, have to hurt people. Unless you were a family's last surviving child, all firebenders had to serve time in the military.

So Ty Lee made a decision.

Later, after the war ended, Ty Lee still didn't confess her secret to anyone.

To be a Kyoshi Warrior you had to join the Earth Kingdom, but you couldn't be both a firebender and a citizen of the Earth Kingdom. Why? Because. Never mind that Ty Lee's great-grandmother had been from Omashu. A firebending Ty Lee was a Fire Nation Ty Lee, period.

People were very silly about bending. Ty Lee was who she was, regardless of if she bent fire or water or earth or air or nothing at all. The Avatar could eat meat but didn't; nobody called him a meat-eater.

In the end, it was no great sacrifice. As long as Ty Lee could be herself and follow her heart, what more did she need?